Barcelona VS Juventus

There are no lightweight contests in the ICC. But Saturday night will see two heavyweights of European football squaring off at MetLife, as both Juventus and Barcelona start their ICC campaigns.

On that note, let’s just mention Lionel Messi right up front.

Lionel Messi.

Messi casts a big shadow over world football, but in the recent history between these two teams, he’s actually been a footnote rather than a headline, which says everything about the elite defensive qualities Juventus embodied last season.

That most recent defining moment for Juventus vs Barcelona was the Champions League series between the two just a few short months ago — two games that became something of a referendum on attacking flair vs defensive pragmatism. What would happen when the irresistible force of Messi, Neymar and Suarez met the immovable object of Buffon, Chiellini, and Bonucci?